Fullmetal Chimera
by TayloWolf
Summary: .On hold. Being rewritten. On that fateful night when Tucker transforms his daughter into a chimera, Edward finds himself involved in much more than he'd bargained for when he comes away in a similar state to Nina...


**First off, I just want to let anyone reading my DP fic "A Broken Heart" know that I _am _still working on it, I've just been very lazy. Second, this is my first FMA fic attempt, so I'm hoping it's liked. To understand at all what's happening here, you must have seen _Night of the Chimera's Cry_. This is my remake, though, so… it's a lot different. In this, Ed goes alone to visit Tucker and see what he's up to. I went through the episode and recreated the last conversation with Tuck, so the beginning will seem quite familiar, since the story starts when Ed discovers the "new" Nina… So with my rambling _finally_ over, enjoy the tale!**

----------------------------

Edward Elric slowly made his way along the dark corridor, his heart pounding frantically in his chest. His legs felt like jelly, threatening to buckle at any moment. But the young alchemist continued walking, afraid that his terrible suspicions might be true. _And if they are…_ Ed shook his head. _No. Not even Tucker would be so crazy as to do something like that._ But he could only feel relieved that Alphonse was back at the inn they'd been forced to stay at after being evicted from Tucker's home, sound asleep.

The boy turned a corner and froze, his eyes wide in alarm. Along the walls in this small room sat cage atop cage of snarling beasts. Some of them stuck their claws through the cage bars, reaching out to Ed. _Chimeras…_ he thought, remembering the one Father Cornello had used to attack him back in the quiet desert town of Lior. _The poor thing…_

"Over here," a familiar voice suddenly called out, jarring Ed back to reality and out of his thoughts. Just now noticing the slightly ajar door on the opposite side of the room, a light shining from the crack, Ed headed towards it. It was where the voice had come from, right?

As he made it to the doorway and peered inside, the alchemist found Shou Tucker standing in the center of the room, his back to the door. "Come on in," he said, but Ed stayed where he was and glanced around the room. Papers and other objects lay scattered about. Ed was confused to find large transmutation circles covering the walls, ceiling, and floor. _What the…?_

"…I told you I'd let you see…" Tucker suddenly remarked, stepping to the side and revealing what his body had been hiding. Edward gasped, his heart skipping a few beats. Sitting there patiently, staring up at him, was a dog-sized chimera. In fact, it even resembled a dog with its white legs, snout, ears, and body. A large mane of brown hair fell in its empty eyes and traveled along its back until in ended in a long, furry tail. But as Ed returned the beast's gaze, he realized that this one was different than all the others in the front room.

"It's a perfect version, a chimera that knows the human tongue." At Tucker's words, the strange beast tore its eyes from Ed and looked up to its creator. Tucker smiled down at it and said in a reassuring voice, "Listen, dear. That's your friend Edward. Look." He pointed at the stunned alchemist standing in the doorway who was watching the whole exchange.

"Ed-ward, friend?" the chimera suddenly growled, its voice low and hoarse. Ed's jaw dropped, and his mind raced. _Oh no…_

"Yes, exactly," Tucker rewarded, patting the chimera's head. "That's very good."

"That's… very… good," it repeated, turning its attention back to Ed. Tucker stood back, a grin spread across his face. His glassed reflected the light in the room.

"I'll have no problem getting the funding now," he said as if talking to himself. "I can't believe I didn't see it. The other one was too old to adapt." As Tucker spoke, Ed finally moved from his post in the doorway and slowly got to his knees before the chimera. Staring into its white, listless eyes, Ed felt hatred toward Tucker. _How could he? It can't be, but…_ With extreme caution, the beast reached its muzzle toward Ed. It opened its jaws, snapped its teeth over the chain of his State Alchemist pocket watch, and pulled. The chain broke, and the pocket watch hit the floor with a soft clatter.

"Ed-ward, my… friend," the chimera groaned. Ed's heart shattered, his guess confirmed. _He really did it. That sick man! Oh, Nina…_ The alchemist hung his head, his throat clenching. _Nina…_

"Yeah, that's right…" Ed managed to choke out.

"Ed-ward, why does it… hurt here?" Nina growled. Ed just sighed and stood up, ready to tear out Tucker's heart for what he'd done. The man deserved it. Poor Nina was only _four years old!_

"So, Tucker," Edward said, trying as hard as he could to stay calm.

"Something wrong?" Tucker asked with a slight grin. _How I'd love to wipe that off._ Ed ground his teeth at the thought.

"When was the first time you made one of these human-speaking chimeras?" he inquired. _Time for answers._ Tucker seemed surprised by his question.

"I thought I told you," he said, a look of suspicion on his face. "It's been two years now."

"And when exactly did your wife leave you?"

"Two years ago, why?"

"And those letters… that Nina wrote. Did any of them ever reach her?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Tell me this: where have Alexander and Nina gone to?" Ed asked, his tone hard and accusing. Tucker sighed and his lips curved into a vicious smirk.

"I hate prodigies like you, Ed. Too darn perceptive." The man's eyes grew wide, giving him an eerie appearance. Enraged, Ed ran forward, slamming Tucker into the wall. Gripping him by the front of his shirt, Ed growled in his face.

"You used your own wife, and this time, your daughter! And your dog… you transmuted them into that… thing. An easy process when you use people, right?" Tucker's smirk just grew, and he almost laughed.

"Why are you getting so upset, Edward?" he asked. "It's the nature of scientific progress, animal testing, experimentation, trial and error. All advancements have… a price."

"Shut up!" Ed shouted, pushing Tucker harder against the wall. "I'm not going to let you rationalize this, you monster! That was your own family… you've been toying with people's lives!"

Tucker chuckled, clearly amused. "Toying with lives? What, like your arm and leg there? Or your brother's body, or trying to bring your mother back? That's toying, isn't it? You don't really think you're any different from me, do you, Ed?" The young alchemist suddenly brought his balled fist forward and thrust it in Tucker's face. The man flew to the side, his glasses crumbling and falling to the ground alongside him. After recovering from the blow, though, Tucker started laughing.

"Why, Tucker?" Ed said, his voice steady. "The whole point was to pass the assessment and continue your way of life. But now your family's gone. What life is left?" Ed was surprised to see Tucker just grin happily.

"That's the funny thing; I didn't have a reason." The man paused as Ed took a small intake of breath. "I fully understood no matter what I did my life would be ruined. I could either do it with the science or without. I chose science to see if I could."

"What kind of man…?"

"When you have power to do something, it's hard not to try. Isn't that what we agreed on, Ed? Aren't we so much alike?"

"No!" Edward cried desperately, clenching his hands. _I'm nothing like you! I wasn't the one who turned my family into poor, pathetic beasts!_ But Tucker continued talking as if Ed hadn't said a thing.

"Sure, part of me did it for respect and this house, just as you partly did it for your mother. But there's more. You're desperate to put your mind to use, Ed. To see what you're capable of. To put the world under your fingers! That's the essence of alchemy. You did it for knowledge. Control. Above all, you did it just to prove you can." The man's brain was sent rattling again as Ed's fist clobbered him in the face.

"You're wrong," he muttered, panting. "Alchemy isn't meant to be… I'm. Not. Like. You!" _Punch._ "I'm not—" _Punch._ "—not—" _Punch._ "—I'm not—" With a cry of distress as he brought back his arms, preparing to hit Tucker with a finishing blow, Ed felt a gentle tugging on the back of his robe accompanied by a soft growling. He froze and slowly looked over his shoulder. There stood Nina, a bit of the robe in her mouth. Releasing the red cloth, the chimera looked up at Ed.

"No, big bwother," she demanded, her voice stern. Ed's arm instantly fell to his side. Turning, he placed his hands on his knees, suddenly forgetting his fight with Tucker.

"Nina, I want you to bear with me, okay?" the alchemist said, putting his palms together. "This may hurt."

"What're you doing?" a voice laughed from behind. "You're not planning to split them up, are you? You don't know how. The chimera's a perfect transmutation fused to the core. There's no way to separate them now. You'll just do to them what you did to your mother."

That hit home. The Elric brother gasped, his hands shaking. _Tucker's lying! I can do it! _But as hard as he tried to reassure himself, Ed just couldn't bring himself to try. There was no possible way he'd be able to see anyone or anything look the way his mother had after the transmutation without breaking down. And what if he accidentally killed Nina?

"You pwomised you'd come play with me," the chimera suddenly accused. Ed kneeled down again and stroked her.

"…I know…" he replied with a cracking voice. "Nina, I… I'm so sorry." Ed lunged forward and buried his face in the chimera's long mane of hair. Tears ran gently down his cheeks and his body shivered severely. There was nothing he could do to help poor Nina, and it just broke his heart to know it.

"Big bwother…" Nina said, nuzzling the sobbing boy. "Why… are you… cwying?" But Ed suddenly heard a rustling sound from behind him, and the chimera's body stiffened. He could hear a low growl forming in her chest.

"How touching," came the voice Ed had come to hate, and something hard collided with the back of his head. His body went limp and he fell to the floor. Edward slipped off into darkness, the sound of wild laughter and the frantic barking of a dog-like beast seeing him off.

---------------------------------

Okay, From now on, the story will be completely mine, without the use of parts of the show. Will update soon!


End file.
